The area of sea floor being scanned by the Bluefin submarine has been made smaller based on further analysis of possible signals from the plane's black box

After the $4 million Bluefin-21's searches were frustrated by an automatic safety mechanism which returns it to the surface when it exceeds a depth of 4.5 km (14,763 feet), authorities have adjusted the mechanism and have sent it as deep as 4,695 meters (15,403 feet), a record.

But hopes that the Bluefin might soon guide searchers to wreckage are dwindling with no sign of the plane after six deployments spanning 133 square kilometers (83 square miles). Footage from the Bluefin's sixth mission was still being analyzed, the Joint Agency Coordination Centre said on Saturday.

6:57 am

The Bluefin-21 and its "side scan" sonar has become the focal point of the search 2,000 km (1,200 miles) west of the Australian city of Perth, where authorities believe Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 hit the ocean after disappearing from radars on March 8 with 239 people on board.

Now in its seventh week, the search has centered on a city-sized area where a series of "pings" led authorities to believe the plane's black box may be located. But after almost two weeks without a signal, and long past the black box battery's 30-day life expectancy, authorities have turned to the Bluefin-21.

6:56 am

The US Navy deep-sea drone is diving to unprecedented depths to scour a remote stretch of the Indian Ocean floor for a missing Malaysian jetliner as the Malaysian government said it may use more remote control submarines to help with the search.

6:05 am

BREAKING NEWS: Australian officials are saying the underwater search should be finished within SEVEN days.

6:02 am

The search area, around 2,000 miles west of Perth in Australia is in an area of particularly deep water.

5:03 am

The Bluefin drone is still being used to scan the ocean floor for signs of the missing jet.

Analysis of the data the drone collects can take several days.

3:56 am

Malaysia's civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said Malaysia would lead most of the investigation, according to ABC news.

He said that Australia and other countries would help.

3:21 am

Australian officials are currently studying the memorandum of understanding which has been drawn up my Malaysia concerning the handling of any wreckage from the missing plane that might be found.

2:38 am

The pain for the loved ones of those who are missing must not be forgotten.

Some are still clinging onto the most slender of hopes that they may be safe.

The lack of hard evidence as to the whereabouts of the missing plane must be torture.

1:28 am

Despite the lack of wreckage found to date - the search for the missing plane has not lost momentum.

Up to 10 military aircraft, two civil aircraft and 11 ships are still searching an area totalling about 40,000 square km (15,450 square miles).

12:47 am

The Malaysian government is finalising a deal which would specify how any wreckage of the missing flight should be handled.

The deal is designed to protect Malaysian and Australian authorities from "any legal pitfalls" that arise if wreckage is found.

A separate lead in the search, a sample taken from an oil slick picked up in the area, had been analysed and was found not to be aircraft engine oil or hydraulic fluid, the JACC said, suggesting it was not related to an aircraft.

4:06 am

A series of "pings" recorded this month have led searchers to the remote stretch of ocean in the belief that the signals may have come from the plane's black box recorders.

However, with no pings received in more than a week and the black box's battery now 10 days past its approximate expiry date, authorities are relying on the Bluefin drone.

3:07 am

Malaysia's defence minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, vowed that the search would continue even if there could be a pause to regroup and reconsider the best area to scour.

"The search will always continue. It's just a matter of approach," he told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur.

2:27 am

On Monday, the search coordinator, retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, said the air and surface search for debris would likely end in three days as the operation shifted its focus to the largely unmapped area of ocean floor.

1:42 am

On April 15, a U.S. Naval spokesman said the drone would take up to two months to search its designated area, but on Thursday the Australian Joint Agency Coordination Centre said that was now incorrect.

"Since the US Navy provided comment some days ago, the underwater search has been significantly narrowed through detailed acoustic analysis conducted on the four signal detections made by the Towed Pinger Locator," the JACC said in a statement.

The analysis had created a "reduced and more focused underwater search area".

12:41 am

A series of "pings" recorded this month have led searchers to the remote stretch of ocean in the belief that the signals may have come from the plane's black box recorders.

However, with no pings received in more than a week and the black box's battery now 10 days past its approximate expiry date, authorities are relying on the Bluefin drone.